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"Babe!" Bella Swan leaped over the banister at her husband just walking through the front door directly below her. Edward laughed as she tackled him to the floor.
"Careful, Bella," Rosalie called, gliding inside the house with Bella's father Charlie in tow. "He's an old man. You'll break him."
"Not possible," Bella said, planting kisses all over Edward's face. His laughter was a beautiful, flawless sound. Even Emmett smiled, from his perch against the banister where he had been standing with Bella before she'd decided to leap over it, showing off her Vampire prowess.
"Bella can be as rough as she wants with me," Edward agreed, arching up to kiss her. Bella giggled as she shoved away from him.
"Please," Charlie said, pained, "Maybe I should have stayed at the reservation with Billy..."
"No way," Esme said, as she strode into the foyer from the kitchen. "We can't have family game night without you."
"New rule for the night." Alice and Jasper climbed in through the window, their hands tangled together. There were leaves in their hair, and Jasper had a suspicious, glossy smear on his cheek. "No one is allowed to show public displays of affection for the duration of the competition."
"Aw, darlin," Jasper complained.
"I couldn't agree more, Alice. See? This is why you're my favorite." Charlie looped an arm around her, smiling fondly at her spiky hair, and strode with her into the living room, leaving Jasper to stand with the rest of them in the foyer. He scuffed a shoe on the floor, hands tucked in his pockets. "Well, shoot. It's all your fault, Bella." But he was grinning. "If you could keep your hands off Eddie boy for two seconds -"
Bella sniffed. "Please. As if you're any better." She half turned. "Emmett!"
Emmett sprang over the railing and landed heavily beside her and Edward. "Quit picking on my girl," he said.
"My girl," Edward said, grinning, and leaning in to kiss Bella's cheek.
Rosalie shoved between them, snagging Emmett in the process and towing him behind her on her way to the living room. "I thought I was your girl, Emmett, you big idiot." Her voice was soft with affection.
"Nah," he said, "You're my woman."
She reached behind him to squeeze his ass. "Damn straight," she said.
Jasper shuffled after them, cloaked in a sulky, lonesome air.
"Come on, man, quit it. You were literally just all over Alice." Jacob and Nessie burst through the front door, kicking it closed behind them. Nessie had a motorcycle helmet tucked against her hip, her hair wild and windblown. Jacob shot Jasper a dirty look. "We were just having the best time."
Jasper thrust his middle finger in the air over his shoulder.
"What's the theme tonight?" Nessie asked.
"I don't know. It's Alice's pick. Let's go find out." Bella hauled Edward over her shoulder and carried him into the living room.
Edward cupped his chin in his hand. "If that wasn't so incredibly hot, I might find that embarrassing."
Bella laughed. "I have the strangest desire to punt you at Emmett."
"Please don't. Like Rosalie said, I'm an old man. You'll break me."
Nessie groaned. "Can you believe they go out in public like this? Literal children."
Jacob plastered one of his massive hands over her face. "Shield your eyes."
Everyone crowded into the living room. Whatever game Alice had selected required all the furniture to be shoved out of the way, leaving the room wide open. There were three separate flat screens spanning the length of the opposite wall, displaying the home screen of Just Dance.
"Shit," Bella said, dropping Edward. "Alice, really? Every time?"
Alice smiled innocently from where she stood nestled against Charlie's side. "What?"
"Not everyone has professional ballroom experience," Bella said.
"Professional ballroom experience would be unlikely to help, in your case," Rosalie said, matter of factly.
"Ya'll are bullies," Bella said, sticking out her lower lip in a pout.
Edward leaned in, to kiss it better, when Alice stopped him. "No. The rules, remember? No PDA. Please. For two seconds. Or the whole night," she added hastily, when Edward lifted one finger, then a second one, counting down.
"Okay," Alice said. "Moving on. We're going to be performing solos, three at a time. Whoever scores lowest gets replaced by their teammate. Everyone partner up in groups of three. Process of elimination until we get one winner."
"I claim Emmett," Bella announced, launching across the room at him.
Edward bumped his fist against Jasper's in solidarity.
Everyone else divided in groups. The lineup ended with Alice, Jasper, and Charlie as one team; Rosalie, Carlisle and Nessie; Bella and Emmett; Edward, Esme, and Jacob.
Each team chose their first contenders. Emmett and Bella opted to sit out the first round, and instead, sat on the couch, with glasses of fresh, frothy blood while they bet who would win the rounds. Charlie, Nessie, and Jacob were the first up.
"Smoke them, Nessie," Emmett boomed. Bella whooped in general approval. She couldn't pick sides when it came to three of some of her favorite people.
The first song popped up on the screen. Baby One More Time by Britney Spears.
Esme and Edward joined Emmett and Bella on the couch to watch the chaos unfold.
It was clear who was going to be eliminated at once. Jacob attempted to shimmy as he mouthed along to the lyrics, but his massive size made him awkward, and he stumbled over the moves. Nessie howled with laughter at his poor attempts to follow. The screen constantly flashed with warnings that he was not following the moves properly.
Edward and Emmett snickered.
Nessie was slightly better, but she was distracted by Jacob and fumbled a few of the moves. Charlie, on the other hand, had taken the moment and unleashed himself. Since spending time with the Cullens - and under the guidance of Alice and her love for dancing - he had developed an almost masterful ability of dancing. The screen glowed with stars as he shimmied and stomped to every move perfectly. The first round ended - he'd gotten nearly all the moves perfect with an outrageously high score.
"Yes!" Alice exclaimed, smacking his raised hand. "Show them how it's done!"
Charlie grinned at his granddaughter and Jacob. "Sorry, kiddos. You know how cutthroat game night is around here." He ruffled Nessie's hair as he shuffled to the couch.
Emmett hopped up to compete against Rosalie and Jasper.
"I'm kind of nervous," Esme said. Bella slid across the couch to her and nestled against her side. "Don't be. You can't possibly be worse than Jacob." She wrinkled her nose at him as he came over to flop on the floor in front of them. Nessie followed him over and dropped down on top of his back.
"You were horrible out there, Jake," she said, gleefully. "Wasn't he?" She twisted to glance over her shoulder at Esme and Bella.
"Well," Esme began. She was too gentle a person to insult him. He had become an honorary member of the Cullen brood and Esme loved him like a son. Bella, on the other hand, couldn't resist joining in.
"Appalling" she agreed. "Almost as bad as me before I became a vampire."
"Yeah, yeah." He was smiling, though.
The next song that popped up on the list was Tractor by Jason Aldean. Everyone simultaneously turned to Alice, who shrugged. "What? I had nothing to do with it." Her smug expression said otherwise. Emmett and Rosalie didn't stand a single chance against Jasper. He became positively sultry as he danced, and even began singing. After his defeat, Emmett lumbered over to the couch.
"I failed you," he told Bella. "It's up to you. We can't lose this. I refuse to let it happen." He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her toward the dance floor. "Make me proud."
Bella tossed her hair. "Oh, sure. If my dad can win, I should be able to." She grinned at him. Charlie smiled right back at her. "Ah," he said, "but you haven't had Alice as a tutor."
Alice, Carlisle, and Bella lined up.
The opening bass notes of Maneater by Nelly Furtado started playing.
Alice paused briefly to glance over her shoulder at the couch with her feisty grin, and then she was dancing. Her lithe little body was made for dancing. Every movement was fluid and graceful, flowing and mimicking the simulated dancer flawlessly. Matching her move for move, however, was Carlisle. He danced more aggressively, belting out the occasional lyric. Esme cheered for him.
Bella knew there was no chance she was going to win so she released herself, melting into the lyrics, letting the music guide her. Edward crossed the room to lean against the wall with the screens, watching her from the front, with his arms crossed over his chest. His cheeks dimpled, contrasting with his wolfish grin.
By the end of the round, Carlisle managed to beat out Alice for the highest points by a flawless performance. The entire room erupted in applause. Alice rolled her eyes.
"Oh, come on, you aren't really that glad about me losing, are you?" she asked them.
A resounding yes was her answer. "You never lose at anything," Nessie said, "So when you do, it is bizarrely satisfying."
Esme competed against Charlie and Jasper to an intense rendition of Insomniac by Timeflies. She was too innocent to perform well to the song, though she danced almost as beautifully as Alice.
"I can't believe we already lost," Emmett said, mournfully, slumping down to lay his head in Rosalie's lap. She combed her fingers absently through his hair.
"I can," Bella said. "But to be fair, I think we were outclassed." Edward had seated himself on the floor in front of her, and she had her legs slung over his shoulders. He massaged her calves while she braided a flower crown from the bouquet of daisies resting on the table behind the couch and planted it on his head. He tipped his head back between her thighs to smile up at her and she bent to him.
"Don't even think about it," Alice sang. She sailed across the couch, kicking Emmett's face in the process, stretching out on top of him and Bella to intercept the kiss Bella had been in the process of planting on her husband's face.
"Hey," Bella pouted.
"Did we ever discuss what the winner gets for this competition?" Rosalie looked up from Emmett.
"Winner gets to pick the movie." Alice's grin turned triumphant. Everyone groaned. Because, if she wasn't the winner, but was still satisfied that could only mean one thing. So no one was surprised when, after the eliminations ended, the winner of the entire competition was Jasper. Alice skipped up to him and bounced up on her toes to kiss his cheek.
"No fair," Bella said. "Why do you get to kiss him?"
"Because he's my baby and he did so good," Alice cooed.
Jacob groaned, rubbing his wrists against his eyes. At some point, he'd rolled over and Rosalie was seated on his chest, scrolling on her phone. "I can't watch another western," Jacob said. "I'm not strong enough. Please. Please tell me you're not going to pick a western."
Jasper looked offended. "It isn't."
Even Carlisle arched a suspicious eyebrow. "You watch films that aren't westerns?" he asked, doubtfully.
"Stop it," Esme said, attempting sternness but failing miserably because she could only smile at her family. "There's nothing wrong with westerns."
"Sure," Rosalie replied, "in measured doses. But they win almost every single game. We're overdosed on westerns. I, for one, would rather chew my own leg off than watch another western."
"Too bad." Alice clapped her hands together. "You played the game, and we won fair and square. Plus, like Jasper said, it isn't a western."
Bella pursed her lips.
Charlie rubbed his chin. "I'll believe it when I see it."
Everyone pitched in to rearrange the living room to a theater and snuggled together with heaps of blankets and pillows on the couch while Alice put in the film. And they ended up being half correct: it was not merely a western. It was a science fiction western blend: Cowboys vs. Aliens.
"We can't let them win next time," Rosalie whispered to Bella fifteen minutes into the movie. "I can't even remember the last time I watched a movie that wasn't a western. If it was physically possible, I'd fall asleep."
Bella laughed softly. "How do we defeat them, though?" she mused.
She glanced around her family, loving them so much, so desperately. This, this right here, was what she'd been hungering for her entire life, without even knowing it. This was the family she was born to be a part of, to love each one of them unconditionally, with all their singularities. Even if she had to watch western movies every game night for the rest of her infinite existence, she would do it happily, knowing she was surrounded by the ones she loved the most. The only missing pieces were, of course, her mother and Phil.
"I don't know," she continued. "Westerns aren't that bad. And they did attempt to freshen up the genre a little."
Rosalie shook her head. "Traitor." She smiled as she tugged on Emmett's hair. "Honeybear," she said, "what about you? Aren't you tired of -"
"Shh," Emmett said, reaching blindly up toward her face to press a finger against her lips. "It's beginning to get intense."
Rosalie rolled her eyes. "Unbelievable."
Sneaking a glance at Alice to make sure she was preoccupied, Bella stealthily bent forward to press a kiss to Edward's forehead. "Want to get out of here?" she whispered against his skin, as quietly as she could so no one else would hear.
"I thought you would never ask," Edward whispered back.
"You're not going anywhere," Esme said, wrapping an arm around Bella. "It's family night. No escaping."
Bella rested her head against her shoulder. "I love you."
Esme smoothed Bella's hair behind her ear. "Next time, we conquer," she whispered.
Bella burst out laughing, which made Emmett, Alice, and Jasper vehemently shush her.
"Now you're talking." Rosalie scooted closer.
The three of them plotted throughout the first act of the movie until a jump scare startled them apart.